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Salsify Fritters

Salsify fritters are fried cakes made from boiled salsify, eggs, milk, flour, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Salsify Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Rub the boiled salsify through a colander or sieve.

  2. In a bowl, combine the salsify, beaten eggs, salt, pepper, milk, and flour.

Fry

  1. Heat oil in a deep pot until smoking hot.

  2. Drop small spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot oil.

  3. Shape the fritters with two spoons.

  4. If the fritters break or become greasy, add more flour.

  5. If the fritters are too stiff, add a little milk.

  6. Cook until well browned, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Salsify
Forms the bulk of the fritter and gives it its characteristic flavor.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when hot oil cooks them, holding the fritter together.
Flour
Absorbs moisture and firms the batter so fritters hold their shape in the oil.
Milk
Adds moisture to loosen a stiff mixture and helps the fritters brown.

The step that matters

Heat the oil until smoking hot. Oil that is not hot enough lets the batter soak up grease and fall apart, while properly hot oil quickly sets the outside so the fritters brown and stay crisp.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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